Jane Cradock-Watson

Course Leader Illustration, UCA Farnham

Academic, School of Communication Design

Jane Cradock-Watson is the Course Leader for the undergraduate and postgraduate Illustration degree courses at UCA Farnham. Prior to this, Jane was Associate Dean for the School of Media & Culture at UCA, leading the Surrey based Communication Design courses.

Jane graduated from Kingston University with a BA in Graphic Design, (specialising in Illustration). She also has an MA in Book Arts from Camberwell College of Art and a PGCE from Greenwich University.Jane has worked successfully as a freelance illustrator since graduating. She has worked on commissions from a wide range of clients in the areas of editorial illustration, packaging design, publishing, TV and advertising. Her specialist fields include packaging and non fiction publishing. Jane leads the BA (Hons) and MA Illustration degrees at UCA Farnham. Prior to this, she was Associate Dean for the School of Media and Culture, leading the Surrey based Communication Design courses at UCA. Jane currently teaches on year 3 of the BA and leads the MA Illustration. Her areas of teaching specialism are the narrative book / bookmaking, self publishing, drawing, documentary and printmaking.Jane has also worked extensively in the FE educational sector managing and leading a range of vocational and progression Art & Design courses from Access to Foundation Diploma and HND/Foundation Degree as well as overseeing the Widening participation programme at UCA Farnham.

Research Statement

Jane’s personal research focuses on the production of limited edition hand-made artists' books. Much of her work uses photography and printmaking. She has exhibited regularly since 2009. Many of Jane’s books are in major national and international collections such as the Tate Britain, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Yale collection of British Art. The selection of paper and material of the book, its texture and physical properties, are a primary consideration in her work.

The metaphor of the garden and nature have been a major theme in the creation of her books, providing an intimate and sensory experience with nature, and engaging the audience in reflecting on the garden as a metaphor for life. This work explores the transience of perfection, order and disorder and the tensions between the cultivated and the wild, which exist within the natural world. More recent work combines print, drawing and photography to explore the potential of illustration as documentary to communicate both visually and physically, through the form of the hand held book.

The initial ideas for Jane’s work come from considered observation, supported by research through reading. Reading both theory and fiction initially supports the work, which is then developed visually through recording and structural experimentation. From this point, the development is often organic and responsive, to develop her underlying narrative and visual poems.

The artists / illustrators book as a haptic form of communication, through its structure and materiality.

The artists book and self authorship

Research Outputs and Activities:

Nov 2016 - ‘Looking for Ophelia: An illustrated visual and sensual exploration of the Hogsmill River ‘; - Shaping the View: Understanding Landscape through Illustration’ Illustration Research Network